Have a property in Crouch End. Hoping to keep the property and rent a property near APS to secure the school. Is there a risk of being rejected?

[thismumstryn]

I own a property in Crouch End and am keen on Alexandra Park School for my older child who will be starting secondary in 2 years. I read that haringay has strict rule where it considers your owned property as your primary residence and you cannot secure APS by renting close by. Will I need to dispose my CE Property to be able to secure APS? Or is there a way around like where I can keep my property? Asking since its such a bad market and I am worried I might not even break even with the sell. Also there are no good schools in CE and we need to move.

The property you own is your residence and it’s regarded as fraud if you declare another property. Why not sell and buy in the catchment of the school you want.

Or officially separate, move, and start divorce proceedings.

Just move to the catchment!

you’ll need to sell the property. They will check to see if you own other property and if you do they will use that as the address on the application not the rented. If you are lucky, they will contact you and allow you to change your choices to ones nearer the address they are using but I’m not sure they have to.

Is it now, or has it been, the child's primary residence? Where do you live now, in the CE property?

You cannot rent a property close to the school and use it as the address if you still own the other property and it has been used recently as the child's address. There is no way round this, even if you rent out the owned property. Haringay is one of the authorities that take a very hard line on this and are prepared to remove places should they decide you have used an address of convenience.

We had to sell our property to be considered to be living close enough to our targeted secondary school. Different London borough but similarly sought after comp so I expect the rules are similar. We kept costs down by renting a small flat around the corner from the school for a couple of years, then looked to buy a house once DC was settled. It meant we didn't have to buy right in the catchment area which had a significant premium.

Thanks all for your response. Sounds like the only way I can secure APS would be to sell my current property and buy or rent near the school.

@Ariela "Or officially separate, move, and start divorce proceedings." ?????

OP you know that's there's no way around this. You say as much in your post.

Yup, that way you keep the house (husband's name, he pays council tax there) you rent in your name, pay council tax in rental near school, apply, get space - you have proof you separated and moved out of marital home, child starts school THEN you 'reconcile' and move back home.

Only legit way of doing it w/o actually moving.

.... until someone tells haringay that's what's happening.

Haringey are one of the most stringent LAs on this, and will investigate anything that looks unusual. They operate on a "balance of probability" - they don't need to prove you have been fraudulent, just that they think the evidence is more likely than not that you have. They have a prominent option on their website for people to report fraud, and will remove places, even after allocations.

@Ariela ok understood. Don’t think this is doable either since they will still consider the property with dad as primary. Looks like if you have a property it’s considered as primary.